Book Review: The Dead Riders

Book Review: The Dead Riders by Elliott O’Donnell Burke Blake is at loose ends in China when he hears of an expedition to the Gobi desert, reputedly near the site of Genghis Khan’s tomb.  He invites himself along on the journey to try to steer it into treasure hunting.  Several misadventures later, Burke and several… Continue reading Book Review: The Dead Riders

Book Review: The Jungle

Book Review: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Jurgis Rudkos is a Lithuanian immigrant who has come to America with his fiancee Ona and their families to seek the good jobs advertised in his poverty-stricken homeland.  It’s tricky for people who don’t know English or the local customs to get around, but finally they make it… Continue reading Book Review: The Jungle

Book Review: Death on a Warm Wind

Book Review: Death on a Warm Wind by Douglas Warner (also published as The Final Death of Robert Colston) When newspaper editor Michael Curtis witnesses a man being gunned down in front of the Evening Telegram office, he’s startled to realize that it’s Robert Colston, a man who’s already been declared dead twice.  Robert Colston, who has… Continue reading Book Review: Death on a Warm Wind

Book Review: Conquest of Earth

Book Review: Conquest of Earth by Manly Banister Note:  This review will contain SPOILERS for some major plot twists beyond a certain point. Today Kor Danay is a Man.  It is the distant future, when Sol has become a red star, and Kor has completed nineteen years of intense mental and physical training to become… Continue reading Book Review: Conquest of Earth

Book Review: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Book Review: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner Economics can be a deadly dull subject, at least when dominated by stuffed shirts talking about trade deficits, returns on annuities or fiat currency.  But the basics of economic theory can be used to learn… Continue reading Book Review: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Book Review: The Partnership

Book Review: The Partnership by Pamela Katz Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.  This copy was a bound galley, and changes have been made in the published edition (most notably, a proper index.) The Weimar Republic, Germany after World War One and before the… Continue reading Book Review: The Partnership

Book Review: Mort

Book Review: Mort by Terry Pratchett Mort is a farm boy who is completely unsuited to farming.  Or, it seems, to any other occupation.  He’s all elbows and knees and random thoughts.  In desperation, Mort’s father takes him to a village festival where boys are apprenticed.  Mort is the last boy left after being rejected… Continue reading Book Review: Mort

Book Review: The Greatest Knight

Book Review: The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.  My copy was an uncorrected proof, and there will be changes to the final edition.  Specifically, there will be maps, genealogical charts, and an index. William Marshal started life as… Continue reading Book Review: The Greatest Knight

Book Review: That Ain’t Right

Book Review: That Ain’t Right edited by Jeremy Zimmerman & Dawn Vogel Disclaimer:  I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Howard Phillips “H.P.” Lovecraft (1890-1937) was a minor writer of horror fiction in the early 20th Century.  But thanks to a gift for purple prose, a… Continue reading Book Review: That Ain’t Right

Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries

Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler The title of this volume is slightly misleading; “locked room” stands in for the general idea of impossible crimes in mystery stories.  A man  is found stabbed in the back in a windowless room with the door locked from the inside.… Continue reading Book Review: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries